Good morning. I'm going to call to order this meeting of the Monroe County Board of Commissioners. It
is Thursday, September 24th. And I will note for the record that all three commissioners are here and
present in the NETU Hill Room. Woohoo! Love it. So exciting. And we'll begin with our public statement.
We, the Monroe County Board of Commissioners, renew our commitment to welcome and protect the rights
of all people, regardless of age, race,
color creed, disability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity.
the right of every person to live peacefully and without fear, and we will fight and resist at every
step. Discrimination and harmful policies, whatever their source. We believe in diversity, equity, inclusion
and belonging, and we also stand in support of our county public school
commissioners. We will begin with our department updates. Um health department. Good morning, commissioners.
Good morning. It's a delight to see
the lovely county of Monroe here in the state of Indiana. And I'm just here to tell you that there has
been a turnover in the health department. And as such, we now have an interim administration team. We've
been given permission by the council to indeed post
the position of administrator, as well as replacing our maternal child health coordinator, who is so
involved in making sure that we are minimizing the number of premature and neonatal deaths in this county,
as well as across the state. I have with me one of the members of the interim administration team, Mr.
Gauss, who will be addressing you, the other members
so that it is notified to the public, our vital records director, Kathy Hertz, as well as our preparations
emergency preparation manager, Linnea Amy. So thank you for your time. I look forward to coming back
and talking to you more. Thank you. I was hoping you could put a face to
part of the department now. So I am there for any questions and all that. Great. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you for taking on this added responsibility. Appreciate it. All right. We also have a department
update from Veterans Affairs. Stephen Miller.
Good morning, commissioners, Angie. Today we've got with us Ron Higgins, my district service officer
from the Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs. He's going to give us kind of a little update, a little
report card on our office from the state's perspective. So I'm going to pass those out. And then after
that, I've just got a quick story I wanted to give to let you know a little bit about our walk-ins that
we've got. So I'm going to turn it over to Ron. Thank you, Steve.
Again, Ron Higgins, Southeast District Service Officer for the Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs.
And I train and support county veteran service officers to be in the role that they're in. And I am
here in regard to the state statute, IC code 10-17-9-1, which is in relationship to county veteran service
officer compliance.
And so Stephen Miller, we're all very blessed to have his experience in this office, and we truly appreciate
all that Monroe County does for our veterans. He receives the highest report card possible. As of 2024,
distribution of VA expenditures, there is over
$53 million going to veterans in Monroe County. And that's divided almost in half by medical care and
by VA compensation and low income pensions. And again, that was as of the fiscal year of 2024. Stephen
and his very fabulous Andrew Blake, they're both accredited. They've attended the spring and fall conference
as well as the annual conference and makeup trainings.
The hours of availability, they're always open, eight to four, Monday through Friday, so kudos for that.
Technology needs, I assess no technology that they do not have that they're in need of. Just look down
through here. Some of the long-term concerns that I might see is that because of his great reputation
and their hard work that they,
are always super busy and can frequently become overwhelmed, and considering the possibility of adding
an administrative assistant or a fully accredited national service officer to help us drive the caseload
down. And Stephen exceeds all expectations and training for competency in his abilities, and he is excellent.
We're all very, very proud to be a part of this work with him, and thank you again for all you do for
our veterans.
Thank you so much. Thank you. We'll take the surprise look off our faces because you know how excellent
he is. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. I wanted to give a quick little update about our walk
in hours that we've been having for property tax credits. This has been incredible. First, I want to
take a moment to just shine a spotlight on the auditor's office and for TSD as well. I think I saw.
TST in here. People really came together to help put together an incredible process flow where we've
been able to really simplify and make efficient this property tax credit paper flow. So I just really
want to thank the auditor and TST for making that happen. Really fantastic.
team work we've had. So we started off on July 10th with our first walk in, and we didn't know what
to expect, but we had four people waiting outside of the Curry building at 730 when I strolled in. We
ended up having 30 people that day. The next Friday we had 30 more. The Friday after that we had 40 people.
And that was all between the hours of 8 and noon. So we were definitely moving really quickly to get
those taken care of. Soon after that, the flow has slowed down to less than 10. Last week we had five,
the week before that we had seven. This is kind of normal whenever a new program comes out that early
birds really jump in and get the worm, and then everybody else kind of slowly makes their way in. So
the auditor has sent out a letter.
been putting out newspaper articles and through social media and all of our avenues of conversation,
we've been telling folks about this program. So we're just really excited for two things. One, this
is an incredible benefit to the veterans of our community, and we're getting to meet dozens of new veterans that are
kind of coming out of the woodwork, and we've scheduled 20, 30, 40 new appointments with just new people
we've never seen before. So I really, this is a great experience, and I just wanted to let you guys
know about that. All right, thank you so much. I think it's great because so many, seeing so many new
faces, now they know who you are, what you do, what your office does, and hopefully they will turn to
you when they need help in the future. That's a great thing, absolutely.
Thank you so much. Any other comments or questions? This is a wonderful program, and thank you for working
on putting it together. You're very welcome. Thank you so much for your kind words and support.
Thank you. Thanks. Thanks. I was just going to add, we have people who excel in competency, but not
so much in pleasantness. And Mr. Miller does both. Yeah, there you go. Thank you. That's very kind.
Excellent. All right.
any other department updates? Can raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. All right. Um now
we will open up the floor to public comments for items that are not on the agenda. We invite members
of the community. To speak for up to three
to the podium or raise your hand on teams. Seeing none, we'll move on to agenda item five, please. Yes,
I would like to move approval of minutes for September 17th, 2026. Second. We have a motion and we have
a second. Any comments, corrections or edits?
Okay, seeing none, all those in favor of approving the minutes for September 17th, 2026, signify by
saying aye. Aye. Motion carries two zero. I'm sorry, three zero. I'm so used to saying two. Oh my goodness.
I wasn't counting me. That's the thing. I'm not really here this morning, as you can tell. All right,
now move on to item six. I would like to move approval of the claims docket for accounts payable for
September 24th, 2026.
We have a motion, and we have a second. Ms Guyardo. Good morning. The Council Payable Claims Docket
for September 24th, 2026, totals $1,462,453.10. This includes all emergency claims and adjustments.
Thank you so much. Any comments or questions? Commissioner Jones, Commissioner Madera.
I don't either. Let's see if there's any public comment on this item. You can raise your hand on teams
or come to the podium. Being none, all those in favor of approving the claim stock and accounts payable
September 24th, 2026, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. Thank you so much.
I will note for the record, we've received two reports, the first from the clerk's office for August
of twenty twenty six and the second is from the treasurer's office. Also August twenty twenty six. And
with that, we will move on to new business, please. Oh, yeah, that's right. We are going to add that
item. Thank you. Yes, I'd like to make a motion to add an item to the agenda in as as eight of each.
And that's the streets disability program funding and services agreement.
We have a motion and we have a second. All those in favor of amending our agenda with item H signify
by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries. Three zero. And once again, I'm not really all here. All right.
Now we'll move on to item A, please. Thank you so much. All right. I love adding H by saying aye. Yeah.
So I'd like to move approval for
The Forte Service Agreement, fund name 2023 Geobond, fund number 4817 in the amount of $6,435. Second.
We have a motion and we have a second. Mr. Crone. Good morning, everyone. For the last several years,
we've been replacing courtroom audio systems as they've failed. All of them are on legacy status, but
some of them are worse than others. So we've been working with the company. It's now called Forte. It
was previously AVI when we started
working with them. Anyway, we have done these over the last several years, so now we have varying degrees
of service status. Some have already fallen out of their first-year service. Others are getting ready
to expire. So what we are trying to do is work with the vendor to
level all that up, get all of them underneath one service agreement so we can continue the coverage.
So this agreement would get us into 27 would level all that up and then going forward after that service
agreements would be for one year period covering all of them. So this is to help keep tracking for both
of us, us and the vendor and know where we're at with our support. That's really good. Uh, comments
or questions? Commissioner Madeira.
Uh, no. So do we need to change the title of that to AVI or is it okay? No, it's forte. Now is there,
that's who it paid to. Okay. Thank you. Any comments or questions? Okay. I don't either, uh, except
to say thank you for organizing all of this. Um, it's not easy to do. Um, we appreciate that. Um, any
public comment on this item? You can raise your hand on teams or come to the podium.
Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the Forte Service Agreement signify by saying aye. Aye.
Motion carries three zero. Thank you very much. Next item, please. I'd like to move approval for STI
Prevention Grant Amendment Fund name STD Strengthening Fund number eighty one twelve in the amount of
one hundred and ten thousand. Second.
All right, we have a motion and we have a second and we have Mr. Gauss training us again from the health
department to talk about this important item. Balance. There we go. So yes, we've been awarded 110,000
by the state for the STI testing. The services are across 16 counties for STI testing and treatment,
HIV testing and treatment referrals on the HIV testing. And this award will go to support three full
time positions. Excellent. Thank you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner Jones? No, I don't.
Commissioner Madeira?
No, maybe we can turn the fund name from SCD strengthening into SCD weakening. What type of positions
will these fund? That's a program coordinator and then two specialists. Great. Awesome. Thank you so
much. Yes, we all know that these things are on the rise, too, so it's coming right at the critical time.
All right, thank you for bringing this forward. And let's see if there's any public comment on this
item. You can raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. Seeing none, all those in favor of approving
the STI prevention grant amendment, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. Thank you,
sir. Thank you. All right, next item please.
Yes, I'd like to move approval for the addendum to the nature's way agreement incorporated for count
for the courthouse count house, um, irrigation system replacement. Well, it is budget season. Um, funding
in 2025 Geobond fund number 48 20 in the amount of $26,172 and 56 cents. All right, we have a motion.
I will second it and we have Mr Crider joining us. Good morning, commissioners. Richard Crider, Monroe
County building and fleet.
This request is to accept the proposal submitted by Nature's Way in the amount of $26,172.56 to replace
the irrigation system serving the planting bed areas at the courthouse. The new installation is a drip
line system that will improve efficiency and is less susceptible to accidental damage or vandalism than
traditional sprinkler heads. Thank you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner Medeira?
Commissioner Jones. Is this an above ground system or buried? It's above ground. The drip irrigation
is so much more efficient as well as less susceptible to damage. You were excited about it. Yeah.
So which, so I understand it would be the planting beds
surrounding the building right next to the building. Are there any other beds that this would also?
It's all the flower beds at the courthouse. All of them, even the ones on the farm. Okay. Excellent.
Great. Thank you. So much more efficient. It is. I don't want to be a drip about it, but, um, all right.
Um, let's see if there's any public comment on this item. You raise your hand on teams or come to the podium.
seeing none. All those in favor of approving the addendum to nature's way agreement for courthouse irrigation
system replacement signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. Next item, please. Yes, I'd
like to move approval for the bio one Thompson property encampment cleanup extension fund named county
general fund number 1000 in the amount of $35,000.
I have a motion. I will second it. That's OK, Mr. Crider. OK, this request is to approve the proposal
submitted by bio one to extend the existing agreement for an additional 10 days to continue cleanup
of hazardous material, cleanup and hazardous material removal at the Thompson property at a rate of
three thousand five hundred per day for a total additional cost not to exceed thirty five thousand dollars.
Thank you so much.
Um, any comments or questions? Commissioner Jones? Yeah, I'm fortunate that this is necessary,
but it's very, it is necessary. Nope. I just echoing what, uh, commissioner Jones has said. Yeah. Um,
yeah. And, and I agree, we have to do this. And, um, this is an additional contract to the one we already
had because it's obviously pretty bad.
So thank you for making sure this gets done right. I appreciate that. Not an easy job. All right, let's
see if there's any public comment on this item. You raise your hand on teams or come to the podium.
All right, seeing none, all those in favor of approving the bio one Thompson property encampment cleanup
extension signified by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries.
And our next item is. I'd like to move approval for Marshall Security LLC Security Patrol Service Agreement.
Funded name County General Fund number 1000 in an amount not to exceed $50,000. Second, we have a motion
and we have a second Mr Crider. OK, I do want to mention that I did find a typo on the agenda request form.
It should run through December 31st, not December 21st.
All right. This request is to approve an agreement with Marshall Security LLC, who are referred to as
MSI, to provide security services at two county-owned properties Monday through Sunday at a rate of
$35 per patrol with a time and a half increase on the noted Federal holidays. The term of the agreement
is effective
upon execution and will run through December 31st, 2027. Under the proposed agreement, MSI will provide
two security patrols per day at the Thompson property and one security patrol per day on the commissioner
owned seven acre parcel known as the at home site. The agreement will provide the county with a consistent
security presence at both properties and allow patrol frequency to be adjusted if conditions or operational
needs change. Thank you so much.
questions. Commissioner Jones. Yeah, this is unfortunately a very good idea. Yeah. Commissioner Redira.
Um. I am just I was had a question of the tip of my tongue and. Um. No doubt. When they patrol that
includes not just the perimeter, but inside the property. Is that
Let's see if there's any public comment on this item. You can raise your hand on Teams or come to the
podium. Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the agreement with Marshall Security LLC for Patrol
Service, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries, 3-0. I want to add to your question.
So we do have the perimeter available, but I want to note that the Parks Department brought in their
equipment and blaze new trails throughout the thick forest. Excellent. So you can drive through there
now. They really did a huge amount of work. I just wanted to mention that. Yeah, thank you. Big kudos
to the Parks Department, because they were out there quite a few days doing that work. Yes. And that's
critical, I think, for maintaining the consistency of being able to secure those properties. Yeah,
for sure. Yeah.
Thank you. All right. Thank you. Not to get in the weeds or anything. Um, all right. Um, yes,
I'd like to, um, move to approve ordinance 2026-33 and interlocal agreement regarding animal shelter
control and control fund name county general fund number 1000 in the amount of $566,547. We have a motion
and we have a second. Yeah. And, uh,
I'm going to explain it and then I'm going to ask you to make an amendment to it. Um, basically we,
and this is an annual agreement. We've, we've used the same calculation for probably two decades where
the total number of animals that go into the animal shelter is, uh, are assigned where they came from,
whether it's the town of Elksville, whether it's Monroe County, whether it's out of County, whether
it's city of Bloomington, and then,
Monroe County then is responsible. The cost is based on the cost of the percentage that are Monroe County
animals versus the presenters that are Ellisville and the city of Bloomington gets the city of Bloomington
animals and the surrounding county animals. They charge a fee to kind of help offset that expense. So
this is based upon that calculation and
based upon the number of animals. I think this time it's about $380 per animal that's brought into the
shelter just for the public's consumption. So that is routine. That is how we've typically done it.
I typically bring this ordinance after the budget gets approved. So since the budget hasn't been approved,
I'm going to ask that you amend the now therefore to read, be it ordained by the
of commissioners of Monroe County Indiana. The agreement as attached to this exhibit today is approved
contingent upon county council appropriations of funds for the animal shelter interlocal. That way the
council gets to do their job and this is approved contingent upon their decision on that. So I'm going
to go ahead and make a motion to amend this item to include the language
That disagreement is contingent upon county council appropriation of funds for the animal shelter and
animal control. Second. All right, we have a motion. We have a second. Any public comment on the amendment?
Seeing none, all those in favor of amending the contract as noted signify, I'm sorry,
amend the ordinance as noted signified by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. It is now an amended
ordinance. Um, all right. Anything else for us or can we do comments, questions, comments and questions?
Great. Thank you. Commissioner Jones. Uh, no, I don't have any. No, I always hear that $380 figure or
something close though. And I just, it just reaffirms the value of public donations to the shelter. Yeah.
for sure. So a couple of just sort of procedural questions. So they take the expenses for the year,
and this is over the past year, they take the shelter expenses for the past year and they divide it
by the total number of animals. They come up with a per animal price and then they assess, right? I
want to note, because questions came up at the council meeting, that you had also reached out in the
recent past
Um, we talked about reaching out to the humane society to see if this is something they could take on.
Yeah. Once, once we knew the, once I learned that they had a facility on the west side of town, uh,
we reached out to them to see what their capacity was and things like that. Uh, they are a primarily
a medical facility and that their primary purpose is to provide treatment for, for animals. Um, they
do have a small area, uh,
emphasize small, uh, they could not take on the volume that is, that is identified in this contract.
They just don't have the space capacity and they, what they, what their purpose of their area is, is
for people who are, have experienced a change in housing or something like that, that they have a place
to store their animals temporarily where they know they'll be cared for while they are trying to figure
out all the issues associated with that. Yeah, absolutely. Um, and so, um,
Who does Alexville pay their own share directly to the city? Okay. All right. I just want to make sure,
because there's a portion of this contract that always bothers me. And this is, I don't, I've read this
contract so many times over the years, but it's the part that says that we're taking responsibility
for the town. We're really not. At one point we did, right? Yeah. I mean, I, and I can't remember. I
want to say it was 2010 ish area. I think that's about right.
Before that, we had paid for the town of Ellisville's portion. And so, and clearly, Ellisville had grown
since that, even that agreement, that probably agreement had been around since probably the shelter
was formed. And so, clearly the town had grown since then. We do cover Steinsville's animals because,
and the justification for that is that Steinsville is,
not large enough where an animal that is loose in Steinsville, the expectation is it would eventually
make it to the county within a couple of minutes, right? So it would become the county's problem in
trying to just deal with that. Okay. Good deal. Okay. Thank you. Thanks for answering my questions.
All right. Let's see if there's any public comment on this item. Can you raise your hand on teams or
come to the podium?
none all those in favor of approving the amended ordinance 2026-33 signify by saying aye aye motion
carries three zero next item please yes i'd like to move approval for ordinance 2026-34 amending code
section 253-3 regarding private property unlawfully stored on county land we have a motion and we have
a second mr cockrell yeah and this was kind of getting back to a theme we just
pulled away from in that when we're dealing with the cleanups of these properties, we have a code in
place that requires us to give three days notice before we move things and go through an entire process
with that. Well, we're in the middle of doing a cleanup and we're getting new stuff placed on, and so
technically by our code, we should give a three-day notice and move on. This is just saying,
No, we don't have to give a three day notice. We've got to put a notice if we remove people's property.
We have to store it somewhere for seven days. You know, all those kinds of things are still in place.
I think that we would still have the option to put a three day, hey, get this out by day X, but it doesn't
require it. And it's written particularly for right now because of what we're going through and the
fact that we need to get these properties cleaned up and we need to do these things and our code is
having a hindrance for us to be able to do this efficiently. Right, which adds to the cost.
And this is a, I think the estimate that I received was $100,000 cleanup. Yeah. And that might've been
before the extensions of today. And it certainly does not include the security monitoring that we just
approved as well. Thank you. Commissioner Medeira, comments or questions? So going forward,
Uh, how would this be implemented outside of an encampment? I think, I think what would happen is, is
if we found a piece of property on our own County property, we would, and we want to, and we thought
we needed to remove it immediately for again, I'm going to use the cleanup as a reason, or it's valuable
and we're afraid it's going to get stolen. We would leave a notice there that says, Hey, we picked up
this piece of property. Please contact X.
within seven days. If you don't contact them within seven days, we're gonna deem it abandoned. Which
is really similar to what we currently do, except right now we give a 72 hour notice before we actually
remove it. Our current code does not require us to keep it seven days though, right? It just requires
us to store it for a period of time, but it's not defined as seven days. So the notice would still be
given the person
going back to look for their things will have the ability to look at a notice and say, oh, I need to
call this person. Basically, here's our lost and found. Here's who you go to call. And so that'll be
the same. And I would presume that if we had another situation where we had an encampment, that we would
have a conversation about what kind of notice do we want to give?
I'm speaking for Richard a little bit here, it's a whole lot easier when they remove their property
that they wanna keep as opposed to us having to do anything with it. So this is much more, I think this
will end up being working better for kind of the non-encampment stuff, because if there's a wallet on
the ground, we're gonna pick it up and bring it in anyway, and technically our code would require us not to.
But that's just, and then we'll look at the ID, we'll call them and all those kind of things. So this
kind of allows that process to occur in a much more reasonable manner for the non encampment stuff anyway.
And I like the seven day. I think that's a big help. Commissioner. Yes, it's unfortunate that the highway
garage is the best place to take these things.
A lot of people really can't get to the garage, but they take up a lot of room and that's where the
storage space is. Yes, we have no way to store, yeah. I would presume this obviously does not apply
to things like bicycles that are on bike racks or something like that too.
A car parked in the parking lot would not. Yeah, exactly. Now, if it's parked there, if the bike's left
there for a month, then we'd have to have a presumption of abandonment for those kind of things. It's
common sense. Or a bike placed on the lawn, not on a bike rack, no lock on it. Yeah, we're going to.
And I would just note that this does not require any property being stored at the highway garage.
The big, the bulk stuff we don't have anywhere else for, but like if something small was found on the
courthouse grounds, I'm assuming we're going to bring it and bring it to the commissioner's office and
leave a note and say, Hey, if you lost this. Absolutely. Absolutely. I was going to say small items
are going to end up in the commissioner's office. Yeah. Yeah. And I imagine if it's a small item minutes.
not outside our building. It may end up at the sheriff's office or something like that too. It depends
on what kind of, I don't know. What is it? Yeah, it's a wallet. Is it a, yeah, got it. But they will
know because they'll see it on the notice where to find it. Now this is an interesting point because
if we find a wallet, say downstairs on the, in the rotunda, I'm not sure we're going to leave a notice
on the floor saying we found your wallet.
I believe that what we would do is look at the wallet and see if we could contact the person if there
was identifying information. Yeah. So I do think that, yeah, it's just common sense that we're not going
to leave notes on the ground. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. So just, but if somebody needed to pick
something up, there would be information somehow given to them about where to do it. Yeah. They all
know all the buildings.
Let's see if there's any public comment on this item. You can raise your hand on teams. Come to the
podium. All right, seeing none, all those in favor of approving ordinance 2026-34 signify by saying
aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero.
That's the one I read. No, that's okay. All right. So we have item H that was added to our agenda, please.
Yes. I'd like to move to approve item H, the streets disability program funding and services agreement
Fund name LATCF, fund number 8953 in the amount of $162,378.82. Second. We have a motion and we have
a second. Mr. Capra. Yes, and I'll go over the contract, but I think Mary Morgan can describe what the
work is going to be. This is an agreement with Community Foundation to support heading homes work
for the Streets to Stability program. I think Community Foundation has been working with Heading Home
to help manage some of their fundings and a lot of things. And since this is federal dollars, we wanted
to utilize Community Foundation so that we have an easier compliance with our federal guidelines. So
this agreement is for
them to use $162,378.82 for the purpose of the streets to stability program, which again, hopefully
Mary can describe in a second. And Community Foundation is then going to oversee the use of the funds,
you know, make sure it's used for the appropriate purposes and all the things we like to see done with
federal grant money, well, all money, but particularly federal grant money. And so they'll help us with
the documentation of all those expenses. So that's kind of
why it's with the Community Foundation. And I know Mary can answer any questions about the program 10
times better than I can. Please, if you'd come to the podium, Ms. Morgan. Thank you so much. Good morning,
everyone. Mary Morgan, Executive Director with Heading Home of South Central Indiana. And I can
Talk a little bit about streets to stability, about what the funds are going to be used for, or whatever
you would like me to do.
I think that would be great if you could do both. Okay, sure. Well, first of all, thank you very much
for supporting this initiative. You are the first government entity to provide some financial support,
and so we're very, very appreciative of that. Streets to Stability started earlier this year. It's an
effort to address unsheltered homelessness in Monroe County. We are basically moving zone to zone to
house everyone in a particular zone, provide a 12-month rental subsidy, which is what the funds will
primarily be used for from the county appropriation.
and then provide intensive case management support for those 12 months so that the individuals will
have a plan to a better life in month 13 when the subsidy ends and when the program ends. There will
be some overlap. Everyone won't be moving on in the same pace, but that is our goal is to achieve
independence or additional support from other sources. So our goal is to, over the next couple of years,
really make a big difference
and the estimated 150 or so people that we estimate are sleeping outside in Monroe County. So that's
sleeping on the streets, sleeping in encampments, sleeping in their cars, or in other places that are
unfit for humans to live. So we think that that will address a lot of problems and challenges, both
for the individuals, but also for the community as a whole. And we really appreciate your support in
this work.
Happy to answer any questions. Thank you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner Jones? This sounds
like a wonderful program and I'm happy we're able to support it. Yes, I agree with Commissioner Jones
and two questions. First of all, during that intensive 12 months of case therapy, what does that look
like? If you can just give some general ideas and the second
So how much more funding do you need? And where do you anticipate that funding will come from? So we
estimate that we probably need about 4 million total for the entire program. And that will be, again,
a multi-year initiative.
We have significant funding from a partner called Community Solutions, which is a national nonprofit
that has been supporting our work for several years through the Built for Zero program. They supported
us for the streets to stability in a couple of ways. They are providing free consulting services through
a group called Clutch Consulting, which is done direct to housing.
initiatives in other communities, including Indianapolis, which has a program called Streets to Home.
So we're getting free consulting work from them and the various stages of implementation. And then for
the first phase that we just completed, they provided about 350,000 to house the people that we encountered
in this first zone. We were able to house 13 people.
We have two more that are still applying that have more significant barriers to housing, but
we're optimistic. We have some good landlord partners. We have one person who decided to be reunified
with family in a different state, so providing the bus ticket for that person. And then we have, I think,
three or four people who are what we're
characterizing as complex needs cases. So these are folks that probably are not gonna be able to be
successfully housed. And we are convening a complex case conferencing group that's multi-sector, including
Heading Home and some other service providers, but also IU Health, Centerstone, Health Net, and some
folks from the criminal justice system.
because there's often overlapping engagement with criminal justice as well as behavioral health. So
working to find alternative solutions and a path forward for those folks. I feel like I am not answering
your question. No, you are. OK. So we expect to have additional funding from Community Solutions.
But we are also working with the city of Bloomington. They have a program called Tenant Based Rental
Assistance and they are planning to fund us through that program. I think that's now in the legal department
to look over the details.
We are also pursuing private foundation funding. The community foundation has been a huge supporter.
You may remember that they received a grant from the Lilly Endowment that has supported much of our
outreach and diversion and prevention staff as well as landlord engagement work that is being leveraged
for this project. So we are
basically seeing that as in-kind support for the other financial support that we're needing for rental
assistance. And then we're talking with the business community and exploring some of the support that
we believe can come from there. Good. Thank you. So $350,000 for about 15 people. So that's about under
$25,000 a person.
That's right. And I think that we're estimating. So we've estimated rent and utilities at about thirteen
hundred dollars a month per person. We're trying to come under that, but that's what we're budgeting
for. So that works out to a little over fifteen thousand per person for rent. And then in addition to
that, we're providing other supports, the case management support being the biggest one. And we're keeping
caseloads really
small, so 15 or less, just because the needs can vary. And I'm remembering that's one of your questions
about case management. The work there will vary pretty widely depending on each individual. Some will
need intensive support. Some haven't lived in housing for over a decade. Everyone gets
furnished, we furnish the units and we provide initial household items and then work to figure out the
food situation. So making sure that we have a fully stocked pantry out of the gate, but also working
with the individual to, if they don't have any income, access some of the resources in the community
that provide food.
and other services making sure that they are, so this case manager would make sure that they are connected
with all of the benefits that they are eligible to receive. Some people are working, so looking at what
they need in terms of transportation support or if they're
we can work with them to get a higher paying job perhaps. So it might look something like that. If they
need to be connected to treatment of some sort, whether that's substance use or mental behavioral health
treatment, connecting them with that. We'll also be looking at every month, even though for this 12
month period, they'll be subsidized with their
for their utilities and rent, sitting down and talking about that budget because just preparing people
for like, these are some of the things that you're gonna need to think about in the future. So it's
a combination of things depending on the needs. Is there a, what is the track record? Because this is
a national organization that does this. What is their success rate in terms of,
keeping people housed. Yeah, they're telling us 85 to 90 percent success rate. So it's not going to
be 100 percent ever will be. Yeah. And and that's about in line with what we're seeing in many of the
permits, supportive housing units where that's kind of an expectation that not everybody will be successful.
We feel like that stabilization
after care is gonna be crucial to that success. So we're in the process of hiring additional case managers
before we move into the next phase, but we do expect to start the process again in October. Good, good.
Yeah. So if you think there's 150 people who need help in our community, then you're talking about $3.5
million. Roughly, yeah.
we're estimating closer to four, but yeah. That's a lot of money to raise. That is a lot of money to
raise. I'm sorry. Yeah. How much is the city proposing to potentially offer maybe? So the tenant based
rental assistance, I think is a $300,000 program. So that would get us a little bit further towards the
rental assistance piece. We will likely be applying for a grant from the community foundation, which
has a tier two session of grants that are going to be opening up either later this month or in October.
And we're just, we're looking, we're turning over rocks. And we can only do, we can only roll out this,
I mean, it's a phased
program. So it's not as though we need all of that funding up front. So we feel like what we've done
so far is really and what we will continue to do is going to be proof point for making a case, for example,
to the business community, to business foundations, to private foundations. So and especially government,
local government is helping. Then that sends a signal that
This is a good thing to invest in. That's right. And in communities where this has been deployed in
other communities, government buy-in is really a critical marker for other funders to say, OK, this
is a serious initiative, and it truly is collaborative. But the government is not expected to carry
the full burden. OK, because we couldn't. Thank you so much for answering all the questions.
it's these are the kinds of questions we hear from the community. You know, how much is this all gonna
cost? And you know, and nobody could do 100%. There's no way to ever do that, unfortunately. But it
certainly alleviates some of the questions from the business community and the chamber, whoever is,
you know, railing about people
in the city or in the county without housing and, oh, it's causing problems, et cetera. You know, okay,
pony up. This is a program that works. Yeah. Yeah. And hopefully they will. And we're also making the
case that, um,
I'm just wondering if you know that homelessness is going to be an impact on the community in some way.
So just your agenda items today to pay for, um. Some items that are related so that we feel like housing
is a better investment possible. Yeah Amen. Um we couldn't agree more. I know that that's where we're
all at. So yeah. Um and we just went to
and a capital to build out the rest of the space that they have planned. So we're doing a lot. We can't
do it all. And hopefully it makes a difference. And so we appreciate your work and everyone on your
staff, everyone that works in the community on this project. I appreciate you. Great. Thank you so much.
Thanks. I just think there's this temptation when
we get these SB1 types of things to tighten the belt, and it becomes this politics of attrition and
starvation. And we take away those services to humans that matter most. And that's the time when we
want to lean in. Because it's going to be either item CG on the agenda where we clean up encampments,
or it's going to be internalized medical expenses somehow, or it's going to be giving that's much more
visible, and it's going to be much more tangible.
Yeah, we're gonna pay those costs upfront and I'd rather do that. Yeah, it's much more humane, absolutely.
I'd rather invest in humans than pay it on the back end when you make the investment but don't invest
in humans. You invest in healthcare services or clean up or something else. Yeah, yeah. I'd rather be
proactive than reactive. Yeah, let's just help humans instead of helping, let's help prevent rather
than help everything else that happens catastrophically.
Yeah, for sure. And there is a dearth of federal funding. I know that section eight housing vouchers
are no new ones are being issued at this point by the federal government. And I thought all of the existing
ones were being renewed, but that's apparently not true either. So I think the community needs to be
really aware that we're fighting
state and federal policies that don't help the people, you know? It's really sad. Where they force you
to make choices that are inhumane in order to get money to make things humane. Yeah, yeah. It's really
terrible. And, you know, a lot of this started in the 80s when mental health facilities were closed and
Um, we've been, we've been feeling the fallout ever since. It's, it's terrible. Just feel free to reject
those choices. And I think so far we're in a position where we can do that. And I count ourselves lucky
because of that. Yeah. I hope we continue to be, I'm not sure we will be. And that scares me a lot because
you know, we can, we can feel a bit better today doing this. And I'm grateful that the council agreed
to use the,
um latcf funding I think I got the letters in the right order this time oh my god it's like I'm gonna
have a bowl of uh bowl of alphabet soup and uh try to see if I can figure all this out uh no so i'm
grateful that the council did that and they're also appears supporting um the beacon initiative um and
that's really great because both things are things that
are not just temporary, but are programmatic or capital, which will make changes lasting, hopefully,
in the future. So we appreciate that. Let's take public comment. You raise your hand on teams or come
to the podium.
All those in favor of approving the streets to stability program. Funding and services agreement signify
by saying I I motion carries 30 very proud that we. Took that vote today. That's good. I think I think
that's great. We can all be here too. Yeah, you know, take it together. For sure. Alright, so.
um we don't have any appointments today um and I do want to note a few things um so last Friday was
paint the town purple I didn't make it this like first time in a long time I didn't make it how was it
Oh, it was great. And there was just a spirit of vivaciousness despite the rain. We did not get blown
away. We were fortunate we could open up the courthouse, and we read our proclamation, and it was lovely.
We had a great crowd. Excellent. And thank you to everybody who helped. Jackie Daniels, and Kathy Hewitt,
and so many. Councilor Iverson put so much time and effort into making that event a success. Yeah.
I'm glad I figured it would have to be moved indoors. I was like, oh, they're moving it, right? Yes,
yes, yes. I haven't missed in a long time, so that was kind of odd. It felt weird to miss that one,
but by the end we were all purple because. Yeah, there you go. So I will also note that. The Steinsville
Quarry Festival is. This weekend starts tonight, I think, but we will be in the parade.
to be there. Um Saturday at two PM. Can't miss it. It's on Main Street. Shortest parade ever. But one
of my favorites so far to every year. Yeah, it's good. So we'll be there. Um. I just wanted to remind
folks that we do continue to, um, accept applications for all boards and commissions,
you can go to our calendar on that same home page and look for dates and times. I think I'm on tonight
for three hours. Yes, it is tonight. Um and.
residents can sign up for the alert notification system I have lots of people asking about the boil
order advisory and things like that why didn't I know why didn't I know and I keep telling him sign
up for this because you would have received it on your phone on your email or a phone call or all three
whichever you prefer so that is a significant
And we know we talk about traffic and we talk about weather, but yeah, boiled water orders are one of
those things. It was really an unfortunate time in our community and people were pretty mystified. And
then I learned Tuesday that there were actually two things that happened at the water plant, not one.
So that's, you know,
I hate to say it, but the information is trickling out, but it is. And so I hope we get better communication
with full disclosure of everything that's going on. The watermark. Yeah, new watermark. There you go.
I love it. So I do want to remind everybody too that we continue to support the blood drive and I don't
have any of the dates coming up,
you can go to redcross.org and find information. The blood drives are at Ivy Tech. Also, I encourage
all county residents to go to indianabotors.com or indianabotors.in.gov and check your registration.
Check your voter registration. It's a midterm election, but it's an election and it matters. Just because
it's midterm doesn't mean it's not important. Make sure that
you're an actively registered voter. If you're not, or you find out that you don't have a registration
at all, or you want to activate your registration, go to the voter registration office, 501 North Martin,
suite 101. You have to register by noon on October 5th, or you can register online while you're at that
website from the state. Early voting begins.
October 6th. Um, and it is open. Um, 8 to 6. Um, is that the right time? Yes, it is. 8 to 6, Monday
through Friday. Um, and, um, so it begins October 6th. There are two Saturdays as well, which are 9
to 4, which is October 24th and October 31st. Voting on Halloween sounds interesting. I haven't done
that before.
And Monday, November 2nd is early voting interest in the morning. Election day is November 3rd. So we
encourage people to get informed and make sure you're registered and to vote this year. And I don't
think I had anything else except our next, we don't have a work session today, right?
Uh, our next meeting is Thursday, October 1st. I can't believe it's getting to the October. Uh, the
year is spinning by quickly. Yes. Uh, so our next meeting is October 1st, 10 a.m. right here in the
NatU Hill Road. Do you have anything for the good of the order? No, I don't. Anything to add? Um, Lotus
Festival this weekend. Ah. So it's going to be another busy weekend here on the courthouse alone.
that. Do you want to do you want to? Is it this weekend? I think so. Is it? No, it's not. But they are
doing the IU lighting. Yeah, OK. Yeah, you want to talk about that? Yeah, well, this is not this week.
Is it? They're going to be doing this really cool projection on the courthouse dome.
or pictures regarding our championship football Hoosiers. Yeah and that's Friday night of the time that
this is beginning and I don't remember when it is. I know they've set their stuff up but I think it's
next weekend for some reason. I thought it was this Friday. That's tomorrow. Yeah. But we have a home
game so I'm pretty sure it's not on a home game. I don't know why it wouldn't be because it's the the national
we're going to be here. Yeah. Network will be here. Yeah. This is the first find it. We'll wait. Let
us is the first through the fourth to clear up confusion. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mr Askins. So cool.
Good morning. Um they've asked to be square bulletin. The Lotus Festival is weekend after this coming
one. Yes and they actually were testing out the light show last
Angie pretty just described there. So there's going to be lights on the dome this weekend, starting
probably tomorrow when it gets dark. Uh, and then also next weekend. Thanks. Thank you so much. I can't,
I can't open my email right now. Can, can you verify that the Hoosier thing is this? I think it's tonight.
I mean tomorrow night. I think it's the Friday night that they're doing the IU stuff on the dome.
He said they were and I don't have that information. I do know that email. I can't open my email. I
can't either. We'll put pictures online. We'll, we'll get some people notice. People will notice. Keep
an eye on the dome. There you go. But it's definitely for a night game. And I know there's a night game tomorrow.
I did not know that it was specific to. I didn't know they were doing it in connection to a game,
but yeah. In other words, things are looking up in Monroe County. Yeah, yeah, but there's a who's yours
on that on one of which is cool. So cool. Yeah, alright. So anyway. Seeing nothing else with that, we
are adjourned. Everybody stay safe and we're back next week.